The pre-owned DSD Jr I got about 26 months ago from TMR has started buzzing, loud enough to be easily heard at what most people would probably consider a reasonable volume setting at the preamp. Absolutely nothing about the system setup has changed since it last worked fine. I just walked into the room the other day and heard a sound like a cheap fluorescent lamp ballast coming from the speakers. As near as I can tell from the piano in the room, this is in between the Bb and B in the second full octave of keys, which means it’s probably 120Hz.
When I put the DAC in standby, the buzzing stopped. I left it like that for a couple of days and turned it back on, and the buzz resumed immediately. It gets louder and softer with the preamp’s volume control, but the DAC output level makes no difference - same buzzing volume whether output is 0, 100, or anywhere in between. Neither does it change if I select I2S (PSA SACD transport) or USB (Aurender streamer/server) inputs.
I’m sending a note to PSA’s service folks, but thought I’d ask here to see if anyone else has run into this issue and if so, what it turned out to be.
Mine has done this before as well. Almost sounded like static and hash. A reboot from the back did the trick. Hasn’t happened in a long time. Standby would stop it because it mutes the outputs.
Sorry to say the buzz has returned, even louder than before. Delia in the service dept suggested not just powering it down, but also unplugging everything, from power to inputs/outputs, and letting it sit for a while. So that’s what’s happening now. Fingers crossed that will take care of it, though if this is a recurring thing, I have say that having to disconnect everything on a regular basis is no way to live with a hifi.
I’d sure hate to be back in the DAC market, especially in retirement.
If anyone is interested in this saga, here’s where things sit. Warning - bail now if you’re bored by troubleshooting.
After a couple of back-and-forths with PS Audio to discuss troubleshooting methods (I realized they were right when they said it could just as easily be a problem with the preamp, a SGCD, so we needed to properly identify the source of the problem), I first swapped out the balanced connectors between DAC and preamp for single-ended RCAs, keeping it on analog input circuit #1. The buzz remained. So I moved the connection to analog input circuit #3 (my phono preamp was plugged into circuit #2). When I did that, the buzz disappeared from circuit 1 and moved to circuit 3.
Then, to make sure the problem wasn’t originating in the SACD transport or in the Aurender streamer, I took the DSD Jr out of the loop entirely and plugged both source components into the SGCD’s digital inputs (transport into I2S and streamer into USB). No buzz from either - just music against a black background.
Finally, just to make sure there wasn’t a problem with those two analog input circuits, I moved my phono preamp from circuit #2 to circuit #1 and then #3, all without buzz or hum of any kind.
The only thing I didn’t try, which the service folks suggested, was plugging the DSD Jr directly into my amps. But since the volume level of the buzz wasn’t affected by the Jr’s output level, I didn’t want to take a chance on damaging the speakers (though Service said they were pretty sure that once the preamp was removed from the chain, the Jr would take over the volume control responsibilities, and its output controls would work on the buzz - a chance I wasn’t willing to take).
So I feel as close to 100% sure as I can be that the problem is in the Jr, which I’m told is probably not repairable. And while I’m able to listen again, through the SGCD’s DAC, I may be in the market for a good (meaning better than the SGCD) but reasonably priced DAC. I mean, I was happy with this setup before I got the Jr, but somehow it seems less satisfying now.
Just to close out this thread, my refurbed Mk1 arrived yesterday and I got it into the system today and have listened for about 30 minutes. I have to say it’s just glorious. I understand now why it was so well-loved. Glad I ordered one last weekend - the website showed it out of stock by late Wednesday.
(And needless to say, there’s no buzzing at all - more confirmation that the problem had been the DSD Jr.)
